Liga Mundo Season 30
Liga Mundo Season 30 ran from December 17, 2017 to April 21, 2018. Season 30 was a double-anniversary campaign for Liga Mundo with it being both the 30th season and the 10th year of Xpert Eleven play since the league was founded in January 2008. The season was also unusual as the first-round of Copa Cato cup championship matches were played the weekend prior to the kick-off for the regular season schedule. There were two club changes which saw league membership drop by one team from 21 to 20 prior to the start of the season. Estrella Roja officially returned to the league after an absence of two seasons which Clachnacuddin was sold and relocated to Cataduanes as a re-birth of the old Roja club. Meanwhile, yet another incarnation of the Syracuse Salty Dogs fell by the wayside when the club was disbanded on December 10, 2017 just prior to the commencement of the new season. After two seasons of uneven divisions, both the Primera Liga and Segunda Liga balanced at 10 teams per division and eliminated the need for an un-balanced schedule. The double-anniversary season also became a watershed point in the league's existence, as at the mid-point of the season on February 20, 2018, the reality of the African Premier League joining Liga Mundo in a league merger re-surfaced as a viable and very real possibility - after earlier discussion had been buried prior to the start of Season 25. Two days later on February 22, 2018, Liga Mundo Commissioner Bartnel Botha took over the reigns of the African Premier League and announced to both leagues they would merge at the conclusion of their current seasons - with the APL clubs joining Liga Mundo as expansion teams. After over a year (and three seasons) of closure, the Liga Mundo Hall of Fame was relocated to Loftus Versfeld Stadium, home grounds for the Transvaal Springboks, and re-opened on February 23, 2018. Final Standings Regular Season LM Primera Liga Statistics Leaders All-Star Team LM Segunda Liga Statistics Leaders All-Star Team Costa Libertad Trophy (Team of the Month) The Costa Libertad Trophy for the Liga Mundo Team of the Month was inaugurated on June 1, 2012 as a team achievement award for all Liga Mundo teams. The trophy is named in honour of the former Cybernation Costa Libertad - which was the home of Liga Mundo's founder PremierApex. League MVP Colin Gibbs was awarded the Lois Luis MVP Trophy as the most valuable player during the season in Liga Mundo, leading Swamplandia Sinners and the entire league with his 21 goals. All-Liga Mundo All-Star Team Career Milestones 300 games *'Leonardo Brodelius' (Clachnacuddin / Estrella Roja) played 300th match on January 4, 2018 *'Colin Gibbs' (Swamplandia Sinners) played 300th match on April 12, 2018 200 games *'Adrian Farley' (Arcadia FC / Clube Atlético Santos / Atlético Melloria) played 200th match on January 4, 2018 *'Luther Naylor' (Gopher City Pippas FC) played 200th match on January 4, 2018 *'David Boone' (Swamplandia Sinners) played 200th match on January 25, 2018 *'Julian Snider' (Plymouth City FC / Anfield Road XI) played 200th match on January 4, 2018 *'Carl-Emil Öhlund' (RMI Armed Forces FC) played 200th match on February 22, 2018 *'Pat McGee' (Bethlehem FC) played 200th match on March 15, 2018 *'Riaan Strijdom' (Transvaal Springboks) played 200th match on March 29, 2018 *'Brandon Borg Grech' (AFC Merry Men) played 200th match on April 1, 2018 *'Dieter Schweissing' (Transvaal Springboks) played 200th match on April 12, 2018 *'Monty Pierson' (Gopher City Pippas FC) played 200th match on April 19, 2018 *'Béla Vágó' (Ashie Road 11) played 200th match on April 19, 2018 Manager of the Season Manager of the Season award rankings are based on X11 Manager point totals accumulated during the regular season for each round of matches - with Primera managers earning 2 points per X11 Manager selection and Segunda managers 1 point. Ties in the rankings are decided by overall league placement. Season 30 would be the final season using this methodology, as Costa Libertad Trophy earned points (the team of the month points accumulated for the entire season) would be used for the manager rankings starting in Season 31 to better give winning records more weight in the rankings. Managers CodFCS (Ocean´s Gold) and Rob26480 (Atlético Melloria) both finished tied with 10 accumulated points, edging out Mayzie (AFC Merry Men) and MudBug (Swamplandia Sinners) who finished with 8 and 7 points respectively. Botha (Transvaal Springboks) finished with 3 points while 6 managers had 2 points and 4 managers a single point each in the final rankings. Copa Cato XXIII First Round Matches played on December 17 and December 24, 2017 *SK Shqiponjë defeated Estrella Roja (2-1; 2-0) *Bethlehem FC defeated Sporting Los Angeles (1-2, 2-0) *Transvaal Springboks defeated Galway City (3-0; 6-3) *TNFR Twilight Titans FC defeated Gopher City Pippas FC (4-0; 2-1) Second Round Matches played on December 31 and January 7, 2018 *TNFR Twilight Titans FC defeated Nordheim Badgers FC (3-1; 1-2) *AFC Merry Men defeated Transvaal Springboks (2-0; 2-2) *Bethlehem FC defeated Ashie Road 11 (1-1; 1-1 PK 8-7) *The Fighting Sherms defeated SK Shqiponjë (4-0; 4-0) *Ocean´s Gold defeated Anfield Road XI (4-0; 6-0) *Atlético Melloria defeated Swamplandia Sinners (2-2; 5-0) *The Wall FC defeated Deutsche Vienna (5-0; 3-1) *Marseille FC defeated RMI Armed Forces FC (2-0; 2-1) Quarter-Finals Matches played on January 14 and January 21, 2018 *AFC Merry Men defeated The Wall FC (2-1; 1-0) *The Fighting Sherms defeated Ocean´s Gold (3-0; 1-1) *Atlético Melloria defeated Bethlehem FC (5-0; 4-1) *TNFR Twilight Titans FC defeated Marseille FC (1-0; 0-0) Semi-Finals Matches played on January 28 and February 4, 2018 *AFC Merry Men defeated Atlético Melloria (3-0; 1-0) *TNFR Twilight Titans FC defeated The Fighting Sherms (2-2; 2-0) Copa Cato XXIII Finals Matches played on February 11 and February 18, 2018 *TNFR Twilight Titans FC defeated AFC Merry Men (1-0; 1-1) UCFA Champions Cup VIII First Round Matches played on March 4, 2018 *Sporting Los Angeles defeated Ocean´s Gold (2-1) *Gopher City Pippas FC defeated Anfield Road XI (5-0) *Atlético Melloria defeated Bethlehem FC (4-0) *Nordheim Badgers FC defeated The Wall FC (1-0 ET) Second Round Matches played on March 11, 2018 *Atlético Melloria defeated Deutsche Vienna (3-0) *RMI Armed Forces FC defeated SK Shqiponjë (2-0) *The Fighting Sherms defeated Estrella Roja (2-0) *AFC Merry Men defeated TNFR Twilight Titans FC (3-0) *Ashie Road 11 defeated Gopher City Pippas FC (2-0) *Marseille FC defeated Sporting Los Angeles (3-0) *Nordheim Badgers FC defeated Galway City (5-0) *Transvaal Springboks defeated Swamplandia Sinners (1-1 6-5 PK) Quarter-Finals Matches played on March 18, 2018 *Nordheim Badgers FC defeated The Fighting Sherms (2-0) *AFC Merry Men defeated Transvaal Springboks (3-2 ET) *Ashie Road 11 defeated RMI Armed Forces FC (3-1) *Marseille FC defeated Atlético Melloria (4-2 ET) Semi-Finals Matches played on March 25, 2018 *Nordheim Badgers FC defeated Marseille FC (1-1 3-2 PK) *AFC Merry Men defeated Ashie Road 11 (3-0) UCFA Champions Cup VIII Finals Match played on April 1, 2018 *AFC Merry Men defeated Nordheim Badgers FC (3-1) Challenge Cup competitions Pippas-Titans Challenge Cup VI Matches played February 8 and March 1, 2018 *Gopher City Pippas FC defeated TNFR Twilight Titans FC (5-1; 1-4) Team Pages *Estrella Roja *Gopher City Pippas FC *Transvaal Springboks Nation and Member Pages *Cataduanes *Gopherbashi *Transvaal (Botha)